Legal Question in Personal Injury in California
whats the worst case, for being sued
I was involved in a at fault accident in aug04 it was a middle of town, stop and go traffic 15-20 mph type where I rear ended another vehicle. now two years later I am being sued, because they won't take what insurance is offering, I do not have any money, own a house, cars or any investments, so how am I suppost to pay? what is the worst case, can they dock my pay? will I go to jail if I can not pay? what are my options, will filing for bankrupcy solve this. I was only in this accident because I was avoiding a reckless driver from hitting me, and that driver took off so now its all my fault. and I feel that the only reason I am being sued is because the vehicle I was in was an expensive one so they thought I was rich, but since then I quit my high paying job sold everything I had and am now a very poor full time college student. I can not afford to have my paycheck docked, I am barely making it now what should I do.
4 Answers from Attorneys
Re: whats the worst case, for being sued
If you had insurance at the time, immediately send the insurance carrier a copy of the lawsuit, and tell them that you want them to defend and indemnify you. Your only outlay should be the deductible.
Re: whats the worst case, for being sued
You wont go to jail over a judgment, but they can attach your wages. You may have a defense based upon the time which has expired. I'm available for a consultation and my rates are reasonable.
Re: whats the worst case, for being sued
If you had insurance, report this to your insurance company immediately. Send them a copy of the lawsuit, preferably via certified mail, and let them deal with it. You should not be out of pocket.
However, if your insurance coverage is not enough, you could end up out of pocket for the difference between the judgment and your insurance limits. This gets into a relatively tricky area of law. If you want to know more about this, go read my blog at www.calpiblog.com Otherwise, give it to your insurance company and let them deal with it!
Re: whats the worst case, for being sued
You should not have to fear anything if your insurance company properly protects you.
Sometimes insurance companies want to gamble by not paying a claim. You should not have to gamble if your coverage is enough to settle the claim.
You can protect yourself by consulting with an attorney who can bill the insurance company for his time to act as "cumis counsel". Your insurance company owes you a defense and needs to provide you with an attorney that will advise you how to protect yourself if they want to gamble. If they don't do that they may be in breach of their contract with you and may be liable for your damages...including the duty to pay any judgment.
Be aware that people can be seriously injured even in low speed impacts. There are a number of medical studies that show that significant life altering injuries can be received even when the damage to the cars is insignificant.
Insurance companies often gamble that the jury won't believe the injuries when the forces at impact aren't large.
When they fight propositions on the ballot a lot of misinformation gets to people that make up juries and they like to take advantage of that. Its a win win proposition for them. They fight for "tort reform" to limit their exposure to losses and in the process influence potential juries with information to make the jurors deny more fair claims.
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